If you are gonna survive as a freelance photographer, you better have some other sort of skill on top of that if you plan on eating and paying the bills. Especially in Santa Barbara where you will constantly be undercut by some hungry Brooks Institute photography student looking to cut his or her teeth. Well, lucky for me, I spent about ten years honing my skills in the aspects of traditional and digital imaging for a number of pro photo labs before going it alone. Those are skills that I use when I'm not lucky enough to be getting paid by clicking the shutter.
Since I've ventured out into the freelance world I've filled gaps by assisting other photographers on catalog and shoots, custom color printing in the darkroom, tutoring folks in Photoshop, retouching photos, and... done a lot of film scanning. I've had the pleasure of doing many of the scans for the last two books that motorsports photographer, Jesse Alexander has put out. Now, I am currently doing all of the black and white film scans for pro surfer/photographer, Joe Curren's latest book effort. I'll post more on this when I have new information.
It's a shame I'm not getting paid for looking through the lens these days, but in this economy, I'm feeling pretty damn lucky. On top of that, I'm getting to work on some pretty sweet projects.
On a vacation...
I usually try and blog at least once every other day, but I have been on a sort of vacation visiting family on the East Coast. I haven't been shooting a whole lot out here because I am spending most of my time visiting. I must admit though, this California boy is a little wimpy when it comes to hopping out of the car, when it is below freezing out, to snap a picture.
I did man up at one point when we drove past this little repair garage in Barrington, NH. Their advertising sign was too cool (no pun intended) to pass up.
A future for JPG Magazine...
Contrary to my last post about the demise of JPG Magazine, it appears that there is a certain amount of people out there who do care about the arts and places for creative outlet. Click here to read the good news about how this photography magazine has slipped through the grip of our choking economy.
Coffee Cat show comes down...
My show at the Coffee Cat came down today. My business cards were flying off the shelf but none of my work landed in the hands of buyers, I'll blame the economy. Below are some pics of what the work looked like hanging there...
LA day trip...
My friend, Gail Pine, and I went down to LA to shoot the Felix Chevrolet, Hollywood and Circus Liquor signs recently. I was hoping to hit up the Circus Liquor sign at dusk this time (remember it from a previous post?) to capture the neon but our schedule didn't permit, keep an eye out for the neon shot in the future. So on this visit... for something different, I turned my dusty Mamiya 6.45, loaded with BW, on the clown. None of my pics turned out to be show stoppers, more a documentation of some truly historical signage. Here's a few I took...
Another image on wood...
I actually said I was going to post these a long time ago. This was the piece I put in a show titled "Play" at IGLOO gallery in Portland a few months back. It's Simon the chihuahua feeding on tall grass at Crissy Field in San Francisco. It is from a 35mm black & white negative that was scanned on my Nikon 9000ED and then printed in three 12" sections on my Epson R2400. Once the prints were done, I brushed them onto 1/2" thick birch plywood pieces using a couple coats of matte medium and finished them off with a coat of UV satin medium.
So long JPG magazine...
The new year is starting off shitty. Another source for creative juices is falling victim to the flailing economy and the apparent lack of interest in having artistic outlets in the world. Below is an email I got today from the folks at JPG magazine...
Today is a particularly sad day for all of us at JPG and 8020 Media.
We've spent the last few months trying to make the business behind JPG sustain itself, and we've reached the end of the line. We all deeply believe in everything JPG represents, but we just weren't able to raise the money needed to keep JPG alive in these extraordinary economic times. We sought out buyers, spoke with numerous potential investors, and pitched several last-ditch creative efforts, all without success. As a result, jpgmag.com will shut down on Monday, January 5, 2009.
The one thing we've been the most proud of: your amazing talent. We feel honored and humbled to have been able to share jpgmag.com with such a dynamic, warm, and wonderful community of nearly 200,000 photographers. The photography on the website and in the magazine was adored by many, leaving no doubt that this community created work of the highest caliber. The kindness, generosity, and support shared among members made it a community in the truest sense of the word, and one that we have loved being a part of for these past two years.
We're soggy-eyed messes, but it is what it is. At that, JPGers, we bid you goodbye, and good luck in 2009 and the future.
Laura Brunow Miner
Editor in Chief
Today is a particularly sad day for all of us at JPG and 8020 Media.
We've spent the last few months trying to make the business behind JPG sustain itself, and we've reached the end of the line. We all deeply believe in everything JPG represents, but we just weren't able to raise the money needed to keep JPG alive in these extraordinary economic times. We sought out buyers, spoke with numerous potential investors, and pitched several last-ditch creative efforts, all without success. As a result, jpgmag.com will shut down on Monday, January 5, 2009.
The one thing we've been the most proud of: your amazing talent. We feel honored and humbled to have been able to share jpgmag.com with such a dynamic, warm, and wonderful community of nearly 200,000 photographers. The photography on the website and in the magazine was adored by many, leaving no doubt that this community created work of the highest caliber. The kindness, generosity, and support shared among members made it a community in the truest sense of the word, and one that we have loved being a part of for these past two years.
We're soggy-eyed messes, but it is what it is. At that, JPGers, we bid you goodbye, and good luck in 2009 and the future.
Laura Brunow Miner
Editor in Chief
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